Welcome Mr. Chance
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Welcome Mr. Chance |
| Original title | Being There |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1979 |
| length | 125 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hal Ashby |
| script |
Jerzy Kosiński Robert C. Jones |
| production | Andrew Braunsberg |
| music | Johnny Almond |
| camera | Caleb Deschanel |
| cut | Don Zimmerman |
| occupation | |
| |
Willkommen Mr. Chance (German DVD title: Willkommen, Mr. Chance) is a film satire by Hal Ashby from 1979. The screenplay was written by Jerzy Kosiński based on his novel of the same name. Leading actor Peter Sellers stood in front of the camera for the penultimate time in this film.
action
Chance has been gardening for a wealthy man in Washington, DC since childhood. Since he never left his place of work during these years, he only knows life outside the property fence from television . He is now more interested in this medium than in his fellow human beings. After his employer dies, Chance is confronted for the first time with the challenges of everyday life in the world beyond the usual boundaries. This means that he has to leave his employer's house on the instructions of the estate administrator and find his way around the streets of the city, which is unknown to him, which sometimes leads to bizarre reactions. For example, he tries to evade the threat of a criminal youth gang with the help of a TV remote control that he carries with him.
In front of a TV shop, he sees himself on TV for the first time and, in his confusion, ends up on the road where he is hit by a parked car. This is where Eve Rand, the attractive wife of the successful but seriously ill businessman Ben Rand, sits. Due to a misunderstanding, Eve thinks the victim is Chauncey Gärtner (in the original version: Chauncey Gardiner). She takes Chance home with her for medical care. There he meets Mr. Rand.
Chance wears a discarded suit from his deceased employer and truthfully mentions in conversation that his house has been closed. Rand then thinks his new friend is a bankrupt entrepreneur. But that's not all; Rand interprets the extremely simple view of things, shaped by his gardening life and the sparse social contacts, as an expression of deep wisdom.
Since Rand is a confidante of the US President, the former gardener will soon also be introduced to the head of government. He is so enthusiastic about a statement Chances about the change of the seasons that he asked the supposed “Mr. Gardiner ”quoted by name in a public speech in connection with a current political issue. After appearing on a late night show where Chance soon made similar remarks on botany topics, he is considered a publicly respected personality.
At the instigation of the President, the US secret services are researching the person "Chauncey Gardiner". As a result, the agents have detailed information about his clothing (right down to the make of his underwear), but no personal data can be found. However, since the president cannot be advised by a stranger, the authorities persuade themselves that Chance is so important that his files have been destroyed. Only Rand's doctor recognizes the actual circumstances, but remains silent about it out of consideration for his dying patient and his sympathy for Chance. Rand puts the fate of his wife in Chance's hands.
Rand dies a short time later. At his funeral, the heads of the companies he left behind agreed that the supposed Chauncey Gärtner would be the ideal cast for the next term of the US presidency. The future candidate does not notice this. During the funeral ceremony, he leaves the funeral party, walks a little through the snow-covered property, straightens the branches of a tree in gardening style and finally walks across the water of a small lake , as the biblical tradition says Jesus did on the Sea of Galilee .
Reviews
In his review, Roger Ebert saw parallels between Chances of limited intellect and the equally limited communication abilities of a computer program based on the principle of artificial intelligence . He also pointed out that satire is an endangered form of life in American film, which usually, as in the works of Mel Brooks , presents itself flat and slapstick-like. Ashby's film, on the other hand, is a rare example of subtle satire. Finally, Ebert established a connection between Chance's platitudes, the public appearances of politicians and the public's ability to receive messages: messages to the audience should not last longer than ten seconds and contain no specific intentions or promises. On the other hand, the audience equipped with the remote control only has a very short attention span.
- Lexicon of international film : “A tragicomic, sometimes sarcastic satire about the weaknesses of modern industrial and financial society, especially the unlimited, deadening consumption of the all-too-powerful television programs. Excellent entertainment with substance. "
- Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in Lexicon "Films on TV" (1990): "(...) bitter satire with an excellent seller in his last role." (Rating: 3½ stars = exceptional)
Background and effect
After the publication of the novel Being There in 1971, the author Jerzy Kosiński received a telegram with the message “Available in my garden or outside of it”. The additional phone number given turned out to be Peter Sellers. In the years that followed, Sellers worked hard to make a film version of Kosiński's original. This was only possible after his success with other films in the Pink Panther series .
Kosiński originally had ambitions to play the role of Mr. Chance himself in the film. An anecdote says that he only rejected his intention at a party that Peter Sellers was also at. Sellers is said to have convinced everyone there of his acting qualities by sitting in front of a switched off television and pretending to be fascinated by the current program.
"Life is a state of mind" ("Life is a state of mind"). This last line of the film also adorns the final resting place of Peter Sellers, who died seven months after the premiere (December 19, 1979). Chance was his penultimate role.
“I like to watch.” In several scenes in the film, Chance describes with these words that he likes to watch TV. In two cases this remark has been grossly misunderstood. Initially, a homosexually oriented interlocutor interprets this avowal as a desire to watch him and another man having sexual intercourse. In the second scene, Rand's wife Eve feels prompted to masturbate in the presence of Chance. However, this does not change the fact that his attention will soon return to the television program. “I like to watch” (for the German film version translated as “I look like” or “I like to watch”) is a household word in the English-speaking world that has been used since then, especially in a voyeuristic context.
The opening credits of the film were designed by Pablo Ferro .
Awards
Welcome Mr. Chance has received a number of major film awards. These include an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actor category (Douglas), the BAFTA Award in the Best Screenplay category, and Golden Globes in the Best Actor Musical / Comedy (Sellers) and Best Supporting Actor (Douglas) categories. The film was also nominated in 1980 for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival and for an Oscar (Best Actor, Sellers). It should be noted that in 1980 all major film awards were given to Kramer versus Kramer and Welcome Mr. Chance may be undervalued as a result. The script won the Writers Guild of America Award in the Best Adapted Screenplay / Comedy category.
It ranks 26th on the American Film Institute 's list of the 100 Funniest American Comedies of All Time .
literature
- Jerzy Kosiński : Welcome, Mr. Chance (Original title: Being There) . German by Kurt Heinrich Hansen . Full paperback edition. Droemer-Knaur, Munich and Zurich 1980, 127 pages, ISBN 3-426-00715-0 (the German translation initially appeared under the title Chance. Roman ).
Web links
- Being There in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Being There at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times
- ↑ Welcome Mr. Chance. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier, Berndt Schulz: Lexicon Films on TV (expanded new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , pp. 932-933
- ↑ Satire Screening Room: Peter Sellers' Masterpiece Being There ( Memento of October 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive )